Replies

1. 
   M._Richter | Jul 13, 1999 05:58am | #1

   *
   I'm looking for alternatives to regular gutters. I live in a hurricane zone and have hurricane shutters for all my windows. I also have a barrel tile roof and the sheets of water that come off it are killing the my lawn during the rainy season. I have a bay window that my contractor says can't get a gutter since the hurricane panel track sits just below the edge of the tile. Does anyone have any ideas for alternatives? To add to the problem we have a very strict building code due to the hurricane force winds that we get every now and then (hopefully more then than now!)

2. 
   Guest_ | Jul 13, 1999 12:02pm | #2

   *
   It sounds like you live on Key Largo (Bogie fan). maybe this is an application for the Rain Handler "dispersal" approach? Or some nice bushes to catch the rain runoff. I assume your foundation is dry.

3. 
   M._Richter | Jul 14, 1999 08:01am | #3

   *
   Not quite Key Largo but you guessed S. Florida right!

   Bogie and Bacall were lucky - they only had wooden shutters and did just fine! (another Bogie fan :-)

   What do you mean by the Rain Handler "dispersal" approach?

   Thanks for idea about the bushes, I hadn't thought of that, all I came up with was pavers against the house.

4. 
   Guest_ | Jul 14, 1999 01:07pm | #4

   *
   The rainhandler is a proprietary system that puts metal vanes along the edges of the roof to disperse sheeting runoff into a relatively fine spray. I've never even seen one, but I know it has been brought up here in the past. It claims to avoid the problems you get with just letting the water run off the eaves -- erosion, splashback, and foundation damage.

   Try this brief overreview.

   For your bay bushes are a common approach, and wouldn't splash back as much as pavers, but you have to be sure the grade will carry the water away properly. Maybe in combination with the rainhandler? You can also put gravel/stones down to catch the water. There are a lot of anti-gutter people here -- search the archives -- who advocate hardscape or other non-gutter solutions.

   Anything for a fellow film epicure. You know, I haven't watched those tapes in a long time...

1. 
   Guest_ | Jul 15, 1999 08:32pm | #6

   *Hey, why not try hardscape below the eave line. You know, concrete pad sloping outward into drains which feed a french drain system, which feeds a dry well? Check archives for some design ideas.

5. 
   M._Richter | Jul 15, 1999 08:32pm | #5

   *
   alternatives to gutters